FOR THE RECORD: U.S. official's address at conference on trafficking of women and children (07/30/00)

FOR THE RECORD

U.S. official's address at conference on trafficking of women and children

Remarks by Melanne Verveer, assistant to the president and chief of staff to First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, at the Conference to Combat Trafficking in Women and Children held in Kyiv on June 21.

First, I would like to say a few words in Ukrainian. I am very happy to be back in Ukraine, the birthplace of my grandparents, both on my mother's and father's side.

This is my third visit. Four years ago, I accompanied President Bill Clinton on his historic visit to Kyiv. It was the first visit of an American president to a free Ukraine. Two years ago, I was in Lviv with the First Lady. There she announced a new public information campaign aimed at warning Ukrainian women and girls about the dangers posed by traffickers. Today it is a privilege to join you for this important U.S.-Ukraine regional meeting for international law enforcement officials on combating trafficking in women and children.

When I was a child, I attended Ukrainian school in the United States. There we sang the Ukrainian national anthem and, like so many other Ukrainian Americans, we prayed that Ukraine would one day be free.

Today, Ukraine is a democratic nation. As President Clinton said on his recent visit to Kyiv, America will be your partner and friend as you work at building your democracy and reforming your economy.

[Continued in English]:

Each year close to 1 million human beings, especially women and children, are shipped across national boundaries and are sold into what has become modern-day slavery. It is because of this flourishing criminal industry that we gather to develop concrete law enforcement and related anti-trafficking strategies. No country can eradicate trafficking by itself, because the character of the problem is international in scope. With victims moving between countries, progress is possible only through our mutual cooperation. The largest growing number of women and children is being trafficked from this region.

I would like to express my gratitude to the government of Ukraine for co-sponsoring this law enforcement workshop with the U.S. government. The United States and Ukraine have joined together in a bilateral commitment to combat trafficking, and this workshop will be the first of several to ensure our joint progress. I want to congratulate the government of Ukraine for taking initial steps to address this problem. By the end of our discussions over the next three days, I hope the government will be able to put together a concrete plan of action that will include a government structure with all the relevant ministries to address this issue.

I also want to thank the Ukrainian ministers who are here, as well as the representatives of educational institutions, international organizations and NGOs. I am pleased that we have prosecutors from some of the oblasts with us. I know their experience at the local level in proactive investigative work will be a welcome addition to this meeting.

Yesterday I met with an official of the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and learned about the efforts that are being made in the schools to make students aware of the dangers that traffickers pose. I also heard how school officials are working with NGOs like Winrock and LaStrada to better prepare teachers on this issue.

I am also very impressed with the collaboration among Ukraine's NGOs to combat trafficking. I saw their commitment and know-how in action at a coordinating meeting yesterday. We need to enhance this kind of coordination between the government and NGOs as well. This meeting is bringing together, for the first time, all the key participants. Trafficking is not just a Ukrainian problem or an American problem - it is a global menace. And it is not just a women's issue - it is an issue that affects all of society.

Because of the regional and international character of trafficking, I am pleased that the representatives of so many foreign governments could be here. Your presence here illustrates that your governments take this issue seriously. Together we must create a coordinating body and commit resources.

People who are trafficked are desperate for economic opportunity and think they are applying for jobs as waitresses, laborers, childcare providers or sales clerks. Many think they are following their dreams of a better life; instead they find themselves in an unimaginable nightmare living in virtual captivity. Enticed through false advertising and deceptive offers, they fall prey to an organized criminal network, which comprises a new shadow economy. Once they arrive at the destination determined for them by their captors, their passports and other documents are confiscated. They are subjected to extreme human rights violations - physical and mental abuse, including rape, torture, imprisonment and death threats.

Trafficking has exploded in recent years because of a combination of factors - the severe economic deprivation of the victims, a market in countries with larger sex industries and an organized crime network that utilizes local operatives to prey on vulnerable people.

Trafficking in human beings is a major source of money for organized crime. The traffickers derive enormous profits from their sales because of the relatively low risk of prosecution. Their work is often facilitated by corrupt politicians. It is difficult to get at because the trafficking requires secrecy, the women are silenced, the traffickers are mobile, well- equipped for their work and dangerous. As an NGO leader remarked, "Smugglers and traffickers have better connections on the international level than we do."

My country is taking action on several fronts. In March 1998 President Clinton issued an executive directive setting out a U.S. strategy to combat trafficking. He laid out a three-part plan for prevention, protection of the victims, and prosecution of the criminals. Law enforcement is the critical link between all three areas. It is in your power to prosecute criminals who engage in this activity and to protect the victims.

President Clinton also specifically directed the U.S. government to work with Ukraine. In a speech at the White House, in the company of the Ukrainian ambassador, the U.S. secretary of state, the attorney general and the first lady, he said we would jointly develop a comprehensive strategy with Ukraine to fight trafficking with the hope that our cooperation will be a model for anti-trafficking efforts across the globe. In the U.S. we are carrying out the president's order through a coordinated effort among various agencies, including the State Department, the Justice Department and Immigration and Naturalization Service.

The first step is prevention to ensure that girls and women are made aware of this problem so that they will not be entrapped by the traffickers' tactics of coercion, violence, fraud and deceit. The information must be easily and widely accessible.

Because prevention is so important First Lady Hillary Clinton announced in Lviv in late 1997 a U.S.-EU information campaign, in conjunction with Ukrainian NGOs, to reach women and girls in Ukraine who may be in danger and to inform law enforcement and other agencies to be on the lookout for, and hopefully to stop, these crimes.

Mrs. Clinton was also responding to a plea she heard from Ukrainian women leaders who had gathered in Vienna with women from Central and Eastern Europe for a Vital Voices Conference in 1997. There she heard stories about family members and others in communities who had gone off with the offer of jobs never to be heard from again.

Prevention was also an important reason for President Clinton's announcement during his recent visit to Ukraine to establish a multi-million dollar micro-credit program. At its root traffickers prey on those who lack economic opportunity. Trafficking also requires economic solutions. Creating viable work alternatives for women and girls is a critical aspect of an overall strategy. The terrible cost to any society is tremendous when it loses a significant portion of its educated labor force.

Today, I'm pleased to be able to announce a new $500,000 program to provide assistance to the government of Ukraine to strengthen legal, regulatory and enforcement mechanisms to ensure that women are not discriminated against in the workplace implemented by the International Labor Organization and U.S. Department of Labor.

The second step is protection for the victims: shelters and hotlines so they can seek assistance, including support to NGOs to provide services, counseling and medical assistance, alternatives to immediate deportation and eventual safe return and reintegration.

And, the third step in prosecution of the perpetrators. As all of you know, it requires laws that criminalize trafficking, training for law enforcement - police, judges and prosecutors, investigations of document fraud, smuggling, official corruption that facilitates the illegal activity, and witness protection programs, as well as regional cooperation.

In a world where the rule of law should prevail, too many victims must wonder how people can buy and sell human beings and go unpunished. We need to use the full force of law to root out the criminal networks that profit from trafficking.

What concrete steps will we take from these meetings? As an Italian law enforcement official said: "The criminals are organized and we are not."

We need to coordinate our efforts between government and NGOs, between countries and within countries, to help the victims and to prosecute those involved: the traffickers, the middlemen, the corrupt immigration officials, the bogus employment and travel agencies - all the criminal actors.

The international community will be watching our progress over the next days here, as well as our collective actions in the weeks and months ahead.

Let us resolve to do the job that is ours to do: to stop trafficking. We are committed to working with you to eradicate this scourge. So many are depending on all of us.

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